The Unseen Servant forums

Hi all,

I'm looking to run a "classic" dungeon crawl, using The Black Hack or other light OSR system (open to suggestions).

The game is set in a loosely defined medieval fantasy setting of my own creation, but there won't be any heavy-handed worldbuilding nonsense - just enough flavour to pique your interest and get the ball rolling for the PCs.

I'm an easygoing GM, and am more about collaborative fun than min-maxing and TPK, but rules is rules. If a PC does something stupid that might get them killed, it might get them killed.

Any takers?

Welcome cmrsalmon! Are you from the Yahoo Group? I may have been one of the folks directing you here.
Hope you find a group!
--Ron--

I absolutely adore classic dungeon crawls. I'm fine with a light OSR system. From what I've read so far, however, I'm not terribly impressed by Black Hack. It strikes me as a system thrown together willy-nilly without much thought or structure behind it.

Also, my standard disclaimer when groveling before would-be DMs: I'm very much opposed to character generation methods that involve randomly determining, with a single, violent die roll, ability scores, much preferring that you either you, the DM, provide a set of scores (or multiple sets to choose from) or provide for some sort of system for either purchasing or adjusting ability scores appropriately. To this end, Black Hack really fails spectacularly, insofar as that it apparently forces you to roll a crappy ability score right after rolling a decent one. (Truly bizarre rule, imo.)

I'd be very eager to play a game with The Black Hack!

I am not opposed to random generation.

Re: Xaxyx's complaint: TBH's rule that keeps PC stats mid-to-low makes sense when you consider the emphasis on stat checks, and the nature of advancement in the game. Having a PC with too many high starting scores would really throw things out of whack. I'm not sure TBH's rule is the most elegant solution—I'd lean towards 4d4 or 1d6+6 to create more narrowly-bunched stats—but I'm willing to give David Black the benefit of the doubt.

I'm in! Happy with TBH as written.

In answer to your PM, Pulpatoon, this is he (that was my first post, can't send PMs yet!). I'm glad you like BLUEHOLME™.

Sorry guys - I'm new to the forum - didn't have notifications on (thanks for the heads up, rredmond)!

Xaxyx, your critique may prove to be accurate. If you're willing to give it a go, we'd be glad to have you. If after a little testing the system proves unsuitable, I'd be up for switching to something more robust/proven.

Also agreed with concerns about character generation. There's no point in starting a game with nerfed PCs. Does anyone object to the classic 4d4, drop the lowest, x6 and assign a roll to each stat as you wish?

I'm aiming to get the game topic set up this weekend, intro para etc, with a view to starting in earnest early next week.

Questions? Thoughts? Feelings?

Vile wrote:In answer to your PM, Pulpatoon, this is he (that was my first post, can't send PMs yet!). I'm glad you like BLUEHOLME™.

Pleased to find you here! I think you need to post in the introductions thread before you can send PMs or join campaigns.

cmrsalmon wrote:Questions? Thoughts? Feelings?

One of the things I love about TBH is the ease of making new classes, and a regular cottage industry has sprung up of additional class: The Class Hack, the Race Hack, etc. And then there's some deliriously goofy classes online, such as the Hobbit Lobber, or the Gastromancer.

So, how open are you to classes other than the base 4 in the rulebook? I'm not angling for anything in particular—just interested in the possibilities.

"cottage industry" is exactly right! Feels like a real mix of genuine enthusiasts and cash-grabbers, though.

In terms of tone (inc classes), I was thinking fun (e.g. not super-serious horror), but not too wacky. I'm a flexible GM, though, so happy for a show of hands.

In my experience, "wacky" tends to dissolve the fabric of the game - fine for one-shots, less so for a longer crawl.

Is there a class you wanted to try, Pulpatoon?

cmrsalmon wrote:Does anyone object to the classic 4d4, drop the lowest, x6 and assign a roll to each stat as you wish?

I presume that you meant 4d6, drop the lowest. And yes, I have and always will vehemently oppose this character generation system, as I find it to be inherently and intolerably flawed.

And in truth, what I've seen so far of TBH does not at all impress me. So if you're going to give that system a try, then I'll politely bow out for now. If you decide to try a different system, either at the start or after experimenting with that one, please do let me know.

Ha, I did mean 4d6.

No worries, Xaxyx,and thanks for the input. Will let you know if we switch systems.

I'd like to try the system as written before coming to any conclusions. 5E taught me not to trust my instincts when just reading rules.

Vile wrote:I'd like to try the system as written before coming to any conclusions. 5E taught me not to trust my instincts when just reading rules.

An excellent point. As someone who is, along with the rest of the rest of humanity, currently working on my own genre-hack of TBH, I'm ashamed that I've yet to play a straight-up version of it.

cmrsalmon wrote:In my experience, "wacky" tends to dissolve the fabric of the game - fine for one-shots, less so for a longer crawl.

Is there a class you wanted to try, Pulpatoon?

Agreed that "wacky" doesn't wear well. I don't have any class in mind. But, given a chance, I'd probably poke around some of the non-human classes. I have a history of writing up satyr, harpy, and minotaur classes for any system I'm playing. Come to think of it, I really should do that for TBH, whether its for this game or not. Weekend project!

So true in re 5e, guys. I hated Next when I first read it, and it's taken me a long time to "get" just how good 5e might be.

Satyr, minotaur or harpy PCs are welcome, but not necessarily encouraged. I'll throw up a setting intro when I start the game topic this weekend, so maybe hold off final decisions regarding class and race til then.

Roll call - Vile & Pulpatoon make two players. That's enough to start if we need to.

Any other takers?

Did I say weekend project? Turns out, I had some important procrastinating to do, this morning:Satyr, Minotaur, Harpy, Harpycock, and Centaur classes for TBH.

I'm not proposing to play any of these classes, but since this thread is what inspired me to do this instead of what I was supossed to be doing, I thought I'd share.

"Labyrinth-Lost. Minotaurs have a terrible sense of direction, and roll with Disadvantage when trying to navigate."

Brilliant.

I would love to give this a whirl. I just responded to your G+ post also.

Great stuff, mjulius - you are very welcome to join.

That makes three.

Now that we have something of a quorum, what are you guys looking for, game-wise? I shall attempt to tailor accordingly.

Specifically:

Quick dungeon crawl, or pseudo-megadungeon?
Hack-n-slash, or something with a little more NPC interaction?
How challenging - from "gentle country ramble" to "first room TPK"
Puzzles? (trick question, the answer is "yes")

Anything else anyone wants to throw into the mix?

Cheers,

Any and or all of that sounds fun. Regarding the quick crawl to mega dungeon - I think to begin I would like to explore something smallish. This is my first [well, second, actually] PbP and I would like to toe in at first. As far as challenging, I'm not afraid of a TPK but I kind of don't want to know how deadly it is. I think that I'd like to work it out through play.

Two things that I'd like to bring up:

1] Post frequency. I attempted to get into a 1e twitter game last year and got drowned pretty much immediately. It was like the game was going ALL THE TIME...because it was. I've read here that the standard is 3 posts per week which is doable for me. Once the semester starts [I'm a full time working parent and student] my schedule is crazy so I want to establish what I can do. That said, I am positive about the play and think with my schedule it is the right amount of D&D that I need to keep me sane.

2] Dice rolling. What's the tool that we are using here? I think that this service incorporates a dice roller which I have't really explored yet but think that I want to use. Does it keep a record of rolls? That's pretty neat.

Also, apologies. I'm usually not so wordy.